It’s Not Been A Good Year for Kids and Negligently Stored Guns – And the Year Isn’t Over Yet

*This post has been updated with new numbers. Since Friday, a shooting earlier this week in Knoxville, Tennessee involving a 16-year-old has been classified as a self-inflicted, unintentional shooting and another child, a 1-year-old in Memphis, Tennessee was shot and killed by a 3-year-old sibling with a gun left on a bed near the infant.

With just over seven weeks remaining in 2017, according the CFSA databasewe have already surpassed the total number of children injured by negligently stored firearms, and are close to tying the total number of children killed. These numbers will only increase as the year draws to a close. Unintentional shooting incidents spike around the holidays when kids are at home. Last December, there were 38 total incidents, resulting in the deaths of 16 kids and one adult.

These shootings are far more likely to occur in some states. Over one third of the total number of incidents logged this year occurred in just six states. Of those six states, three of them – Tennessee, Missouri, and South Carolina – have logged more incidents so far this year than in all of last year.

By the Numbers

181 children have been shot and injured so far this year. There were 176 children shot and injured in all of 2016.

117 children have been shot and killed so far this year. There were 121 children shot and killed in all of 2016.

16 adults have been injured or killed so far this year. There were 21 adults injured or killed in all of 2016.

306 total incidents logged so far this year. There were 320 total incidents logged in all of 2016.*
(* Some incidents injure or kill multiple individuals)

By State

29 incidents in Tennessee so far this year. There were 22 incidents in Tennessee in all of 2016.

21 incidents in Florida so far this year. There were 27 incidents in Florida in all of 2016.

21 incidents in Texas so far this year. There were 28 incidents in Texas in all of 2016.

16 incidents in Georgia so far this year. There were 23 incidents in Georgia in all of 2016.

16 incidents in Missouri so far this year. There were 10 incidents in Missouri in all of 2016.

16 incidents in South Carolina so far this year. There were 4 incidents in South Carolina in all of 2016.

The CFSA database is a searchable list of all incidents related to children and negligent gun storage. Using data from The Gun Violence Archive, media reports, and news stories, all details of an incident are logged into the database so that they can be searched.